Chicken chain Nando’s is expanding its reach across Northern Ireland with a new restaurant just outside Belfast!

In a move that will create dozens of jobs, the South African-owned business is set to move into the Abbeycentre in Newtownabbey.

The news comes as plans were submitted to take over an area of the centre’s food court.

It comes after the chain opened its fourth locations at Boucher Crescent in south Belfast.

As well as its two current branches in the city, it operates a third in Derry.

The story of Nando’s began one afternoon in 1987, when two friends went for lunch at a humble Portuguese eatery. As their meal drew to a close, they knew they’d tasted something that had to be shared. PERi-PERi was about to make one more journey – from Rosettenville to the world.

Now, Nando’s operates more than 1,000 restaurants across the globe, with almost 300 across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

In 2010, Advertising Age magazine named Nando’s as one of the world’s top 30 hottest marketing brands.

Nando’s has become the favourite takeaway food fix for a host of international names, including none other than pop diva Beyonce.

She reportedly spent almost £1,500 at an Essex branch of the chicken chain in 2013, in addition to several hundred pounds at an outlet in Dublin.

Later, in 2015 Kanye created a media frenzy by jumping up and down on the tables of the London O2 restaurant, just an hour ahead of his appearance at the BRIT Awards.